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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Local extinctions of obligate frugivores and patch size reduction disrupt the structure of seed dispersal networks

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Author(s):
Bomfim, Jamille de Assis [1, 2] ; Guimaraes, Jr., Paulo R. [3] ; Peres, Carlos A. [4] ; Carvalho, Gustavo [5] ; Cazetta, Eliana [1, 2]
Total Authors: 5
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Estadual Santa Cruz, Programa Posgrad Ecol & Conservacao Biodiversidad, Ilheus, BA - Brazil
[2] Univ Estadual Santa Cruz, Lab Ecol Aplicada & Conservacao, Ilheus, BA - Brazil
[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, Sao Paulo - Brazil
[4] Univ East Anglia, Sch Environm Sci, Ctr Ecol Evolut & Conservat, Norwich, Norfolk - England
[5] Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Bot, Sao Paulo - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 5
Document type: Journal article
Source: ECOGRAPHY; v. 41, n. 11, p. 1899-1909, NOV 2018.
Web of Science Citations: 3
Abstract

A central problem in ecology is to understand how human impacts affect plant-animal interactions that lead to effective seed dispersal services for plant communities. Seed dispersal services are the outcome of plant-frugivore interactions that often form local networks of interacting species. Recent work has shown that some frugivorous bird species are more critical to network organization than others. Here, we explore how patch size and the potential local extinctions of obligate frugivorous birds affect the reorganization of seed dispersal networks. We examined the structure of 20 empirical seed dispersal networks documented across tropical avian assemblages occupying widely variable habitat patch sizes, a surrogate of the amount of remaining habitat. Networks within small forest patches consistently supported both lower plant and bird species richness. Forest patch size was positively associated with nestedness, indicating that reductions in patch size disrupted the nested organization of seed dispersal networks. Obligate frugivores, especially large-bodied species, were almost entirely absent from small forest patches. Analysis at the species level showed that obligate frugivores formed the core of interacting species, connecting species within a given seed dispersal network. Our combined results revealed that patch size reduction erodes frugivorous bird diversity, thereby affecting the integrity of seed dispersal networks. We highlight the importance of conserving large forest patches to maintain tropical forest functionality. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 15/14292-9 - Analysis of flowering patterns from herbarium specimens: relationships with the climate and long term shifts in flowering times.
Grantee:Gustavo Henrique de Carvalho
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
FAPESP's process: 09/54422-8 - Structure and coevolutionary dynamics in mutualistic networks
Grantee:Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
FAPESP's process: 17/08406-7 - How do species and interaction turnovers affect the coevolutionary dynamics in mutualistic networks?
Grantee:Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants